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Monday, September 29, 2014

Pictures of Chicks and Chicken Artwork - The Sequel

I have been seriously, ridiculously, over-the-top busy working on chicken breed artwork for GRIT Magazine's 2015 Guide to Backyard Chickens Issue, and I have had little time to come up with awesome chicken keeping articles for you over the past days... So I hope you will enjoy a bit of visual fun instead.

One of my lovely Swedish Flower Hen pullets, Sofia, went broody at the ripe old age of 9 months and has hatched out a beautiful clutch of four chicks! I'm quite sure she would have hatched five chicks, but unfortunately my 11-year-old daughter, who is in the autism spectrum, dropped one of the eggs about 4 days prior to hatch. We were both very sad about the loss, but everyone makes mistakes!

We're thrilled for the four that have hatched! Three of the four are out of my pullet Greta who took the title of Champion Pullet at a local county fair poultry show. (Read more about the show here.)

Look at these sweet babies!

(Both parents are BIG - but I didn't expect the chick to resemble a Rottweiler! Hee-hee-hee!)

Classic first-time-mom look. Where did YOU come from?")

("OK kids... get back under mamma!")

Watching chicks just never gets old! I might have spent the day out there staring at the new family if I hadn't been so busy with the artwork. Here's what I have been working on for GRIT Magazine over the past week:

(Red Dorking rooster and Silver-Grey Dorking hen.)

(Sicilian Buttercup rooster and hen.)

What do you think?Leave a comment... tell us - do you have any Dorkings or Sicilian Buttercups? If not, what breeds you have and how many?

I'll go first -

I have mostly Swedish Flower Hens for breeding and my eatin'-egg-laying flock is comprised of Easter Eggers and Red & Black Sex Links. I have a total of about 70 chickens... and all but the chicks have names.

9 comments:

Hi! oh the babies are darling!!! I would love to have a swedish flower hen... they are beautiful and seem to have wonderful personalities! We have 8 Red Stars, 6 Tetra Tints, and 1 Silver Sebright- and all of them have names! I can't wait to get more chickens in the spring! Have a wonderful day! Maybe I could get a few chickens from you? :)

Love your artwork! Our flock is a melting pot! We have Sicilian Buttercups, Barred Rocks, Silver Laced Wyandottes, a banty Rhode Island Red, Easter Eggers, Buff Orpingtons ("Buffy" hatched out TWO clutches of eggs this summer--the second had 12 chicks!), Cochins, Australorpes, Dixie Rainbows, and several that I'm not sure what they are! We have about 30 layers/roos. We also raised meat birds (barred rocks & white rocks, not the cornish cross) and we have turkeys (Royal Palms & some for meat) guineas and ducks. Almost everyone has a name (except the meat birds).

You have an amazing assortment of chickens! We don't name our meat birds either but they do get spoiled with the rest of the birds. We are (read "I am" - my husband isn't... considering getting turkeys in the spring. LOL!)